Entries in How To
(5)

I needed to bring a drink to pass to a pool party recently. One easy way to make drinks for a crowd is to make a punch. You can make the punch in advance, and your guests can help themselves during the party. I took a look at the Tiki+ app that I have on my IPod, and found Cinerama Luau Punch. Cinerama Luau Punch was invented in 1958 by Don the Beachcomber for the premier of the film Cinerama South Seas Adventure.

My post on How To Drink Out of A Coconut was quite popular. Maybe it was because I almost cut off my fingers. Anyway, I thought I would explore other fun ways to drink Tiki cocktails. Another fun way to serve Tiki cocktails is to make a cup out of a fresh Pineapple. Using a pineapple corer it is really easy to remove the fruit from the center of the pineapple to make a cup. You can pick up a pineapple corer for about $10 at almost any store that sells kitchen gadgets.

All you have to do is cut the top off the pineapple. Then, twist the corer into the pineapple. As, you twist the beautiful, sweet aroma of the fresh pineapple will fill the room.

Be careful, to not go to go all the way through the pineapple. You should be able to feel where the bottom of the corer is from the outside of the pineapple.

Once, you are getting close to the bottom just pull the corer out of the pineapple and the fruit will come with it. It seems to help if you turn the pineapple while you pull. Once the fruit is removed there will be juice in the pineapple that you can save for drinks. The corer leaves the center in the pineapple, but this can be cut out with a knife.

I had read online that a bar in Australia was serving drinks in a frozen pineapple. So, I'm going to give this a try. The frozen pineapple will help keep the drink cold longer, and this should allow you to prepare the pineapples in advance. So, check back soon, and I'll let you know how it turns out.

In the United States today is tax day. To wear off some of that sting from the tax man Smuggler's Cove, one of the most popular Tiki bars in the U.S., is celebrating National Painkiller Day. Sadly, Smuggler's Cove is across the country from me, but that isn't stopping me from having a good old Painkiller.

This Tiki cocktail was invented in the 1970s at the at The Soggy Dollar Bar in the British Virgin Islands. The Soggy Dollar has no dock so it's visitors have to swim to shore from their boats getting their money all wet, and that is how the bar got it's name. The original Painkiller recipe is top secret, and is still being served to this day at The Soggy Dollar. However, through some reverse engineering by some people with much better taste buds than mine you no longer have to go to The Soggy Dollar to enjoy this Tiki cocktail.

To make a Painkiller combine the following in a cocktail shaker with about a one cup of ice:

1 oz Fresh Squeezed Orange Juice

4 oz Pineapple Juice

1 oz Lopez Coconut Cream

2.5 oz Dark Jamaican Rum (Preferably Pussar's Navy Rum)

Shake the ingredients together until the shaker is frosty on the outside. Then, pour it into a large glass or Tiki mug. You may want to use a Tiki mug for this one because this great tasting drink isn't very pretty to look at. Then, sprinkle some Nutmeg and Cinnamon on top. Garnish with an orange wheel, pineapple slice, and cinnamon stick.

The Painkiller really surprised me with how amazing it was. The Lopez Coconut cream gives a delicious coconut flavor to the drink, and the pineapple juice blends in nicely. I've tried other brands of Cream of Coconut, but Lopez is the best. The only place I can find Lopez, near me, is at Wal-Mart.

You get just a hint of orange from the fresh orange juice, and the dark Jamaican rum adds a nice touch, but doesn't over power. Even a non-rum drinker will love this cocktail. The Cinnamon and nutmeg go really well with the creamy coconut. There is just the right amount of sweetness so that you could keep drinking these all day. I can just imagine being in The Virgin Islands sipping on this while laying in a hammock, and listening to the gentle waves roll in. Uncle Sam is a million miles away...

I went to the Soggy Dollar's website to do research for this post, and they have the relaxing sound of waves crashing to the shore playing on their site. I usually hate it when websites have background sounds, but the waves are very peaceful. So pull up their website while sipping on your Painkiller and your cares will drift away even faster.

My friends at Paradise Cocktails sent me an email asking how to serve drinks in a coconut. This is something I hadn't tried before, but it sounded like fun. So I did some research. It turns out it is really pretty easy to hack open a coconut so you can use it as a cup.

The first thing you want to do is drain the coconut water. To do that use a nail or punch to put two holes in the coconut. The best place to do this is in the eyes of the coconut. They are softer and easy to poke through using a hammer.

Next, drain the coconut water. Be sure to save the coconut water it is delicious, and can be used in a variety of different cocktails. I suggest you filter the coconut water to separate out pieces of the shell that may have fallen in. You can even freeze the coconut water to save it for longer periods of time.

After the coconut is drained use a large knife and chop the end off. Be sure to keep turning the coconut as you chop away the hard shell. This makes it easier to break open. After a few minutes you should break through the tough shell. You may want to do this outside. We had pieces of coconut flying everywhere.

After that, wash out the coconut. Then, it is ready to serve drinks in. You can reuse the same coconut several times throughout the night. Just keep filling it.

Coconut Water, Rum Cocktail

Since I had coconut water I decided to make a coconut water, rum cocktail. First add some ice to the coconut. Then add:

2 oz coconut water

1 oz white rum

1/4 of a lime

Stir everything together and serve. This is a great simple cocktail. The coconut water has a mildly sweet, yet refreshing, flavor. It is also slightly salty. The rum and the lime really complement the coconut water.

Just drop the ingredients into the bottle. Give the bottle a couple of turns every day; don't shake it. After a couple of days sample the rum. Once the flavor gets to something you like remove everything from the rum. That's all there is to it. What is really great is you can experiment and try other spices and flavors to make a rum all of your own.

This is the first time I've tried to spice my own rum. I'm really excited to see how it turns out. Stay tuned and I'll keep you posted on how it turns out.